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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Ministers to scrap schools scheme | Ministers to scrap schools scheme |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The Scottish Government is to scrap a £15m scheme designed to drive up standards in targeted schools. | The Scottish Government is to scrap a £15m scheme designed to drive up standards in targeted schools. |
| Ministers have said funds will be withdrawn in two years. | |
| The Schools of Ambition scheme was set up by the previous Labour/Lib Dem coalition as a way of turning around schools which were not performing well. | The Schools of Ambition scheme was set up by the previous Labour/Lib Dem coalition as a way of turning around schools which were not performing well. |
| The schools received £100,000 a year from the public purse and were expected to seek funds from private sources, such as wealthy philanthropists. | |
| The scheme was perceived by some as a watered-down version of the City Academy Scheme in England, which critics claimed was partly designed to weaken the strong control of local authorities over education. | The scheme was perceived by some as a watered-down version of the City Academy Scheme in England, which critics claimed was partly designed to weaken the strong control of local authorities over education. |
| The evidence shows that it was very effective in certain cases Ewan HunterHunter Foundation | |
| The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) said the Schools of Ambition scheme was flawed because funds were only available to selected schools. | The Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) said the Schools of Ambition scheme was flawed because funds were only available to selected schools. |
| However, the head of Sir Tom Hunter's foundation, said scrapping the scheme was short-sighted. | |
| Ewan Hunter, chief executive of the Hunter Foundation, said the organisation had put in a "modest sum" of £600,000 and was tracking the impact in the six schools it helped fund. | |
| He told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The evidence shows that it was very effective in certain cases and our point is that if you find that exceptional evidence, spread it across the whole system, instead of closing the whole thing down. | |
| "This is short-sighted in the extreme and what we need to do is find the evidence and spread it across the whole system. | |
| "As a fundamental, it's about time we started a discussion about taking politics out of education." | |
| Failing schools | |
| Mr Hunter said he was planning to meet Scottish Government officials this week. | |
| The Schools of Ambition scheme was launched three years ago and Sir Tom Hunter was one of its first private backers. | |
| It was originally aimed at involving 100 failing schools. | |
| Schools given a poor evaluation in HIME reports were among those brought onto the scheme. | |
| Other schools which had begun to improve their performance or were already performing well were also included. |